Article feeding device for wrapping machines



June 10, 1952 F. H. MURPHY ARTICLE FEEDING DEVICE FOR WRAPPING MACHINES Filed May 10, 1948 I T U'I I H." l m" INVEN'IDR FRANCIS H. MURPHY ATTORNEY Patented June 10, 1952 ARTICLE FEEDINGDEVICE FOR WRAPPING MACHINES Francis H. Murphy, Webster .Groves, .Mo., .assignor to 'Switzer Companies, a partnership Application May 10, 1948, Serial N0. 26,063

1 Claim.

This invention relates to an article feeding device for awrapping machine such as that described in U. S. Patent No. 2,283,097, for Wrapping Machine, issued May 12, 1942, to Oscar Sandberg.

In Wrapping machines of the type disclosed in the aforementioned patent, articles such as candy bars are delivered to the wrapping mechanisms thereof by means of individual containers called pockets, a plurality of which are mounted on an endless belt. The movement of this belt is controlled by a Geneva stop, and, accordingly, the pockets are moved past a loading station of the machine with a rather rapid'jerky motion which makes them extremely difiicult to load by hand.

Notwithstanding this difiiculty, the pockets are still loaded by hand with the result that the machines are not used to their full capacity; many empty pockets being moved into the machine; its operation is frequented by stoppages due to improper positionment of the articles, and rather large wastage of the wrapping strip results. Moreover, this is true despite the fact that it has been proposed to load the pockets with a belt conveyor mounted at right angles to the pocket conveyor of the machine since this approach to the problem has not met with commercial success.

Accordingly, it is a general object of the instant invention to provide an article feeding device for wrapping machines which will overcome the aforementioned difiiculties.

Further, it is an object of the invention to provide an article handling device of the type described which will greatly reduce the amount of manual labor required to load the machine.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as the specification proceeds and a more comprehensive understandin of the invention will be afforded from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of an article feeding device embodying the instant invention and showing the same attached to a wrapping machine with which it is used;

Fig. 2 is a top view of the device, with parts removed and sections broken away, taken as indicated by the line 22 on Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the feeding device, taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 showing its relative position at point of discharge to the pocket of the machine with which it is used;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a section of a chain forming a part of the feeding deviccs conveyor; and

Fig. 5 is a top view of a portion of the drive 'meehanism'for the feeding device taken along the line -5--5 of'Fig. 1. V I

With reference to Fig. 1, a feeding device I I, embodying the instant invention, is illustrated as being attached to a wrapping machine l2, the latter forming no part of the invention.

Briefly described, the feeding device ll comprises a belt conveyor 13 which is supported to move-parallel with, and in timed relationship to, the movement of a pocket conveyor l4 of the machinel2. v

The belt conveyor 13 is mounted on two longitudinal frame members 15 and I6 (Fig. 2), which, in turn, are supported by leg frames I! and I8 'To the members 15 and I6 are journalled a-drive shaft 19 and an idler shaft 2| on which are keyed a drive roller 22 and an idler roller 23, respectively. Passed over and around these rollers is a chain 24, the links 25 of which engage in grooves 26 provided in each of the rollers 22 and 23. The chain 24 supports and drives a flexible belt 21 upon which articles A are loaded for feeding into the machine [2. A pan 28, having sides 29 and 3!, is supported underneath the top section of the chain 24 and the belt 21 by brackets 32 attached to the members l5 and IS. The sides 29 and 3| of the pan 28 prevent the articles A from falling on of the belt 2'! during their movement into the machine.

As is illustrated in Fig. 3, the discharge end of the conveyor I3 is positioned above the horizontal run of the wrapping machines pocket conveyor [4 so that the articles A will drop into the pockets 33 of this latter mechanism. In thi case, the forward speed of the belt 21 is determined so than an article A will fall into each pocket 33 of the conveyor l4 when the same has momentarily come to rest due to the action of a Geneva movement 34 in the machine l2. By placing the articles side by side in abutting positionment on the belt, the interval between the fall of like articles will thereby be rendered constant. Consequently, by adjusting the relative speed of the belt the articles thereon will be correctly delivered to the pockets as they successively come to rest.

To provide for this timed movement of the belt 21 is the function of the devices driving mechanism 35. Within the machine I2 is a motor 36 which, through a chain 31, a shaft 38, a chain 39, the Geneva movement 34, and a chain 4|, drives the pocket conveyor l4.

From the shaft 38, a chain 42 is passed to drive a shaft 43 journalled at 44 and 45. To the end of the shaft 43 is keyed a miter gear 46 which meshes with another miter gear 41 fixed to a shaft 48. The latter is journalled at 49 and and mounts a sprocket wheel 52 over which a chain 53 is passed to a sprocket wheel 54 on the shaft l9. Through this drive, the belt 21 is moved in timed relationship with the pocket conveyor l4, their common drive being the shaft In use, the device is loaded at a loading station L (Fig. 1) by an operator who stands at the front of the machine and who places the articles A on the belt 21 in abutting positions. By means of the feeding device just described, an article A is fed into each of the pockets 33 of the pocket conveyor 14, as described. The horizontal run I of the conveyor M, which for hand loading serves as a loading station, here serves as an inspection; station I at the rear of the machine. An operator stands at this station and inspects the loaded pockets as they pass by. In the event an article is not properly positioned in its pocket or in the event a pocket is not filled, the operator has ample time to correct the difficulty, since only one pocket is involved. Further, since the feeding device is located at the end of, and parallel to, the conveyor l4, the operator at the station I has unimpaired access to the full horizontal run of the conveyor [4.

In hand loading the machine l2, four operators are required, two standing on each side of the conveyor [4 to perform the duties of the two operators required with the feeding device. Moreover, the work of these four persons is the equivalent of that of the two operators and the feeding device.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction, within the scope of the appended claim, without departing from the spirit of this invention. Parts of the invention may be used 4. without the whole and improvements may be added while retaining some or all of the advantages of the invention.

What is claimed is:

In a feeder for an article wrapping machine having a pocket conveyor, driving mechanism, and power transmission including a Geneva movement connecting the driving mechanism to the pocket conveyor and thereby driving it intermittently, the improvement in combination therewith comprising a belt conveyor positioned and adapted to be manually loaded and mounted to move parallel with and discharge articles onto the pocket conveyor at a point defined as the beginning of a horizontal run of said pocket conveyor, and a power transmission connecting said driving mechanism to the belt conveyor and constructed and adapted for driving it at a substantially constant speed, whereby the pocket conveyor and belt conveyor are moved in timed rela tionship with each other, one by intermittent movement and the other by constant movement.

FRANCIS H. MURPHY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 683,039 Hagen Sept. 24, 1901 801,523 Hinchman Oct. 10, 1905 1,090,855 J agenberg Mar. 24, 1914 1,322,813 Parker Nov. 25, 1919 1,749,989 Soelch Mar. 11, 1930 2,205,628 Morrison June 25, 1940 2,321,387 Jackson June 8, 1943 

